Before He Finds Her

Starred review from December 1, 2014
Kardos (The Three-Day Affair) delivers another outstanding crime thriller with this complex and moving account of a young woman trying to make sense of her past and craft a viable future. In 1991, Ramsey Miller murdered his wife, Allison, after hosting a block party at their home in Silver Bay, N.J. The people in this Jersey Shore town also believed he murdered his three-year-old daughter, Meg. In fact, the authorities spirited Meg away and put her in a witness protection program to protect her from her father. Fifteen years later, she lives under the alias Melanie Denison, with her uncle and aunt in Fredonia, W.Va. Since Ramsey is still at large, Melanie is allowed only limited contact with the outside world. Chafing at these restrictions, Melanie begins to challenge them, a rebellion that includes having an affair. The discovery that she’s pregnant leads her to search for her father so that her child can have a normal life, free of fear and restrictions. Sophisticated characterizations enhance the intricately constructed story line. Agent: Jody Klein, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

December 15, 2014
An engrossing tale of a young woman kept hidden from her mother's killer. Allie Miller is murdered, and her 3-year-old daughter, Meg, is raised by Uncle Wayne and his wife in a secret location under a federal witness protection program. The killer-apparently Allie's truck driver husband, Ramsey-remains on the loose. Who knows when he'll return to kill Meg as well? So Meg becomes Melanie Denison, lives in another state, is constantly shielded from the public, rarely allowed to be seen and unable to have a normal childhood. By 18, she chafes at the strict protection. Her aunt and uncle are paranoid about her safety, but she wants to know why Ramsey still has such a hold on her life. She's determined to find him before he finds her, so she returns to Silver Bay, where she had once lived and where her mother died. That Ramsey would both elude the police and lie in wait for 15 years to kill his daughter feels implausible, but Kardos' masterful storytelling persuades the reader to accept the premise. Readers may anticipate some of the plot twists, but the story is no less tense for that. Near the end, one character nicely states the theme: "We spend our lives trying to understand the hearts of those around us and the actions those hearts inspire, and we get it wrong, wrong, wrong." The characters show their humanity through Kardos' vivid prose: On the road for weeks at a time, Ramsey feels as though "he and the truck were a drop of the earth's blood moving along a wide vein to deliver vital nutrients." And when he thinks, about Allie, that "she was going to die tonight," he does so without malice because he thinks a superconjunction of the planets is about to destroy the world anyway. But when it doesn't-well, read the book. First-class fiction about fear, love and lies. Highly recommended.

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June 1, 2015

In the New Jersey beach community of Silver Bay in 1991, the Miller family hosted a block party; later that night, Ramsey Miller murdered his wife and disappeared, along with their three-year-old daughter Meg. Fifteen years later, the case is still open. Most people believe that Ramsey also murdered his daughter and then fled the country. But no one knows except for Melanie Denison, the now 18-year-old who was once Meg Miller, and her adoptive parents, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kendra. For 15 years, they have lived in Fredonia, WV, mostly staying off the grid, hoping that Ramsey doesn't find them. But Melanie/Meg now has her own reasons for wanting to stop hiding and move out into the real world, and so she sets off for New Jersey to find some answers. Told in alternating sections between Melanie's search in 2006 and Ramsey's actions leading up to the murder in 1991, this is a compelling and layered story about truth and lies, and love and loss. Melanie is a typical teen, although more naive than many, and her mistakes and blunders are as natural a part of her personality as her determination and resolve. VERDICT Teens who enjoy thrillers and mysteries that keep them guessing will gobble this one up.-Sarah Flowers, formerly of Santa Clara County (CA) Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2014
Melanie Denison has spent the last 15 years obediently staying under the radar, raised in the Witness Protection Program with her Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kendra. Her father, Ramsey Miller, is a fugitive who's wanted for murdering her mother, and Melanie hides in fear that he'll come back for her. But now she has real dreams of becoming a journalist and creating her own family, one that doesn't have to hide. Desperate to start living, Melanie moves to eliminate the threat by hunting Ramsey herself. But when her search leads to the events surrounding her mother's murder, Melanie's single-minded pursuit of Ramsey becomes complicated as she realizes that the story she's accepted as her own has dangerous holes. Kardos smoothly alternates Melanie's story with Ramsey's version of the months leading up to the murder, and short bursts of her mother's voice, layering a compelling story about sad truths, loss, and resilience into the suspenseful framework of Melanie's hunt. This story, at its best in the gray areas, should make fantastic fodder for book-group discussions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2014

Kardos's debut novel, The Three-Day Affair, was named a Best Book of the Year by Esquire and PW and a Best Crime Fiction Book of the Year by the Miami Herald. His second novel opens with Ramsey Miller throwing a huge block party in 1991, then reputedly murdering his wife and toddler daughter. But the daughter got away and at 18 is chafing under the restrictions of the Witness Protection Program.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.